Brrr it's cold and I am dropping!

I have to share with you my latest hands on learning experience regarding my D! When we were fishing last week I was happy, hoping to catch something, and then it started to rain with a cold breeze. Because of my hypothyroid I get cold easily, but this cold was really cold. I had dropped to 64, I thought not too bad so had some lunchable which included protein with crackers. This should have raised my BG and kept it at a safe number for a while. Lo and behold about 45 minutes later I am back down to 44, time to wrap it up. One of our friends on the trip is an RN and she explained to me that my body was trying to raise my body temperature, therefore; burning up all my glucose while trying to do so. I'm sure most of you knew this could happen, but I didn't a new learning experience for me!

52 replies

If I have a particularly nasty low that comes back on me like yours did then I get so cold I shake! I have to pile on the covers, use a heating pad etc. to get warm and the next day I am sore from the intense shivering. So sorry this happened to you!

Thank you, at the time it was uncomfortable, thinking , Now what? But now I am glad that I was able to learn from it and taking some ideas that others have shared I can be prepared next time. Your cold spells sound pretty intense, Sorry about that, I can get cold instantly. We live high in the mountains, love it, but this beautiful evening showers send me running for sweat shirts. I know this sounds crazy, but I dislike air conditioners!

Thank you so much for the info! I have thyroid issues(mine is gone), but have experienced this and on really hot days as well, so be careful in both types of weather. Not sure if this is a thyroid and diabetes issue or if no thyroid problem it could still happen? Just another thing we diabetics need to watch:(

Red I don't have a thyroid problem I just always ate carbs before going out to play in the cold, as a kid. My mother would let us have candy or a jelly sandwich. After about 90 mins we would feel cold so we went in the house. This works for those who are or aren't diabetics because I wasn't diabetic when I first started doing this. To this day I eat extra carbs when going out in the cold.

Set I have a friend who keeps a window air conditioner in her bedroom window year round. She uses it 365 days a year and it can be at zero outside. She never complains about being cold and I have only seen her in a winter coat 3 times in the 30 years I have known her.

JJ So much of this makes sense as to wants been going on, when is I should be cold sometimes I get hot or the opposite happens. I also have my house extremely warm into winter with radiant heat on our floors and an old wood stove going! During the winter I wear lots of the cuddle thermals as second layers. I'm very uncomfortable in the cold. I do ear jackets, heavy ones, I'm telling you I really dislike the cold!

Glad to hear that your ok ! Did you at least catch a fish and take a sugar pill ??? (-;Seriously, I do have a friend with a thyroid problem, and he probably has no idea how the cold could effect him, especially having diabetes. A good bit of info! Now I know, if we ever get stuck in the cold, I'll have to share my peanut butter with him. Darn it !!!

I don't have a thyroid, so I have issues with hot and cold weather all the time. I'm kind of the reverse at times, when hot, I'm freezing or if cold out I'm hot. It is very frustrating, but it does mess with my bg numbers so extra work.

I don't like fish or peanut butter, but could probably eat peanut butter cups if I had to:) By the way, just saw video of the great white breeching the water as well as the 800 lb mako and I know which shark can swim in lakes or fresh water, so if I did fish, I wouldn't any more. I'm a coward!!

So your cold when it's hot, and hot when its cold ! Sounds similar to what my wife has. She opens the bedroom windows in the middle of the night when it's thirty degrees outside. I wake up freezing and shaking like a leaf!!! Could be very dangerous for a man!!! (-;

Too funny!!! My husband has me move over when getting into bed as my side will be hot on those cold nights so now I start out on his side. I'm sure it drives your wife nuts like me, just wish I could fix it.

Same here with my wife. I go to bed and feel comfortable. Then I wake up to the overhead fan on full and a window fan on full. OH, then there is the air conditioner. So I just cover up and get comfortable again:)

When I 1st had started to have comps from the diabetes, I was eating dinner at a local restaraunt. I started to sweat profusely and also shake uncontrollably,like I was having hyperthermia. It actually lasted for approximately 2 hours. At this point in time I still find that I get cold very easily . The gustatory sweats still happen wether I smell food or am eating.I have tested my bs and it has been within the aceptable range between 90 to 120 when I find that I have cold spells.

This is why I shared, didn't want anyone else to go through this without knowing. I wasn't aware of this and since your metabolism needs to work harder to regulate your body temperature, of course it needs to burn carbs, hence glucose is going to drop!

This is why our mother always made us eat before going out in the cold to play. When your body gets cold it needs to warm itself which is natural. To do this the body burns glucose. This is why to this day if I have to go out and it is cold, I eat foods that are a bit higher in carbs. It raises my BS some but I don't be as cold and by the time I get where I am going my BS is back where I want it to be.

Set the other thing is if you are in an office or your home with central air, the AC removes the humidity while cooling the air. The AC also removes moisture from your body so you have to stay hydrated in the house and at the office. In the winter the heat keeps the house warm and also drys it out. So you have to again stay hydrated.

Yes it is but a lot of what I know comes from moms home remedies that work and still work for me. There was a reason she forced Cod Liver Oil down our throats from the first day of school until early April. We rarely got sick and to this day my sister and I have never had the Flu.

She use to make homemade wine and she would put wild cherry wine in the Cod Liver Oil. My sister and I still laugh about that. We didn't have a hyperactivity disorder because we were too mellow to be hyper.

I am glad to hear that you were ok, having diabetes sends us to school constantly, it's a complete learning experience that we never quite master!The best lessons learned are those that involve us directly, there is nothing better than being taught by experience (although we don't see it at the time).

I hope that you have enjoyed your time away, it's too bad that your diabetes couldn't go out on a vacation of its own!I wish that mine would!

Thanks Mays, I had a great time, couldn't leave D behind of course. I still have dreams of not having D or my life before it! It's here to stay and I'm going to do everything I have to - to get a grip on it.

We live each day by day and have for seven years with his disease. He goes every two weeks to give a pint of blood that they throw away. I just spent four weeks in the hospital with pneuomia, I sih that I could have left my diabetes behind also it would have been much nicer with out and I am allergeric to so many medication theu rally have to hunt to put me on something. We can only hope and Pray for my husband. thanks I would like to be your friend on here.